1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for a shorting line interconnecting signal lines of a flat panel display device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a structure for a shorting line capable of preventing damages of signal lines when removing the shorting line temporarily interconnecting the signal lines in a later process, during a process of manufacturing the flat panel display device having signal lines such as gate lines and/or data lines.
2. Related Art
A flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), a field emission display (FED), an electroluminescence display (ED), and the like includes a plurality of pixels formed by cross of a plurality of gate lines arranged in a horizontal direction and a plurality of data lines arranged in a vertical direction. During the process of manufacturing the flat panel display device, after forming the signal lines such as the gate lines (or data lines) in a condition in which the signal lines are connected to each other and completing the flat panel display device, the signal lines are separated from each other by disconnecting the connection state. As such, the connection line for temporarily interconnecting the signal lines is referred to as shorting line.
The shorting line is a line interconnecting gate lines and/or data lines in order to prevent a disconnection due to an accumulation of static electricity into gate lines and/or data lines by a subsequent process after forming the gate lines and/or the data lines. Alternatively, after completing the flat panel display device, electrical connection performance and condition for lines may be checked by using the shorting line interconnecting the gate lines (or data lines). However, in order to finally obtain a structure in which the gate lines and/or data lines are disconnected from each other, the shorting line is removed in a last process.
As to the removal of the shorting line, various methods have been proposed, and actually, the various methods have been adopted during the process of manufacturing the flat panel display device. As an example, there is a method of removing the shorting line while cutting an edge of the substrate, after forming the shorting line interconnecting gate lines (or data lines) in an extension area from the outside of a gate pad (or data pad) formed on one end of the gate line (or data line). As another example, there is a method of removing the shorting line by an etching process after forming the shorting line interconnecting the gate lines (or data lines) in an inner area of the gate pad (or data pad).
More specifically, during a manufacturing process, the method of removing the shorting line by the etching process is used, wherein an etching solution is permeated into the signal line connected to the shorting line as well as the shorting line, such that the signal lines may be opened. In addition, as resolution of a display device is increased, the number of signal lines is increased and distance between the signal lines is narrower. In this case, a length of the shorting line connecting the adjacent signal lines is also shorter. Thus, it is highly possible to disconnect the signal line since the etching solution may be permeated into the signal line when the shorting line is removed by the etching process. Therefore, in this case, there is a need to provide a structure capable of removing only the shorting line without affecting the signal lines of the flat panel display device.